Safeguarding is now everyone's responsibility and as an employee or when working in a school or educational setting, you should play a full part in keeping children, young people, other adults and yourself safe.
All schools are expected to have robust policies and procedures in place and will now expect anyone visiting or working on their premises to have an understanding of their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding and will have expectations around their conduct and behaviour.
Alongside this, schools are responsible for ensuring their grounds are securely maintained ensuring the children's safety within the surrounding community. Schools are inspected regularly by a government department and have to show that they have systems in place to safeguard children and have systems to protect adults who visit or work there.
Schools and education settings have a right to ask questions and have a right to refuse entry if they don’t feel reassured and can ask a person who is a parent/ carer, visitor or contractor to leave the premises.
Staff in schools and education settings are expected to approach anyone on the grounds and ask questions if they are unsure about why they are there or are concerned about any aspect of behaviour or conduct.
The DfE have produced guidance on controlling access to school premises.
It is important for schools and colleges to have a policy and plan in place to manage and respond to security related incidents. The DfE have produced guidance on school and college security which can be used to help with this.